Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Review

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice just came out and I have my opinion on the film. Now this movie came out 2 days after it released, but I have seen the film Thursday night. I will take my time with this review to properly collect all my thoughts, because the movie is almost 3 hours long and it wouldn’t be fair to judge it an hour after I have seen it. To be honest my final score might change if I see it the second time because the film had so much inside of it. I would suggest anyone who loves superheroes should see this, but make sure to prepare yourself for a more grounded story telling. Now whoever hasn’t seem the film cam leave because I will get into some spoilers. A lot of spoilers, actually. Now I didn’t hate the film, but I didn’t love it either so hear me out. Now, let’s get on with the positives first.

Most characters were phenomenal such as Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, Perry White, Lois Lane, Senator Finch, etc. I put Wonder Woman on here first because she was the best character in my opinion. I loved the way she was introduced very swiftly. At first she was very mysterious but as the film went along her character was being exposed more and more. Her outfit, weaponry, powers were all highlights for the viewer and you know you have a good character when the entire theatre screams and applauds when she jumps in to save Batman to make her amazing entrance. That was an awesome part! Gal Gadot did not disappoint and most of her lines were very well delivered, but I think she should continue on her acting skills as you could see she could do better. Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Batman was by far the most accurate to the comics, but I will have to see one more film in order to judge if he is the number one. I was at first upset with seeing Batman kill people and shoot guns, but as the movie went along the more I got used to this idea even though I am still not a fan of it. Alfred was such a great and funny character! I want to see more of him!!! Superman was neat and had more lines to play with than in Man of Steel which I was glad to see, but it was very odd to me that he went on another destruction spree, but this time in Africa and with conscience! Did he not learn his lesson!??! Henry Cavil was super-cool and by far my favorite on scene Superman of all time. He feels real to me and that’s what sparks my interest. Amy Adams’ Lois was a huge surprise. Not because I didn’t like her in Man of Steel, (which I liked her) but because I thought that this movie would have her be pushed in for no real good reason. Martha Kent was a nice addition to the cast and the way they implemented her into the story was real clever. I also liked Doomsday even though he looked toned down on the big screen. I did like his inclusion in the film and I wouldn’t see why people wouldn’t like him. Doomsday is just a killing machine. There isn’t much to him and this is exactly what we got.

Next the action scenes. First off that Batmobile action chase was amazing!!!! We got to see what the car is capable of and how durable it was. It was very smart to show how many things did the vehicle survive, but when it hit Superman it was damaged real bad. That was great film making right there. The actual Batman vs. Superman was well choreographed with all the boobie traps Batman set-up. He was really prepared for the fight which again is a huge part of who Batman is. I like the idea of the kryptonite spear being a huge part of not just the fight, but later the resolution of the story in order to kill Doomsday. Speaking of Doomsday his action sequence was by far my favorite in the entire movie. We see the trinity all working against one common enemy which made me smile like a 6 year old. I finally want to mention that Arkham games fighting style scene which was really cool.

The things that were literally taken from the comics was really nicely integrated into the story. The Batman lightning pose from DKR, radioactive missile hitting Superman from DKR, the battle of Batman vs. Superman from DKR, older Batman from DKR, and most importantly the Death of Superman! This was just some things that would tickle your fanboy bone and I didn’t even mention Apokolips and Parademons. I didn’t mind the little videos made for each Justice Leaguer that Wonder Woman was looking through, but the Cyborg was shot so badly. They used some ugly looking camera that looked worse than a one that you could buy in a store yourself. The Knightmare scene with Mad Max Batman was brilliantly done. You would see the camera rotate and the more it rotated the more madness you saw!

Usually we move on to the dislikes, but I wanna talk about a scene that worked but could have been done better and I am talking about the Death of Superman. I like how it was handled in the film a lot. His death not only was iconic but it played neatly with the story. His death made people finally see that Superman wasn’t evil and now the world will look at him as a hero. Having all this said I believe moment would have felt more impactful if Superman died in the future films and not so early in the game. This was only the 2nd film we got to see him in and he already got killed off. Now off to the things I didn’t like.

Lex Luthor was so dumb! He dragged the entire movie down because he was so cartoonishly bad. I have a feeling that Jessie Eisenberg wanted to show off his acting range, but ended up embarrassing himself. It’s not that I wouldn’t want to see a different version of Lex, but this version was plain dumb. I wanted to give the character a chance and I was trying not to laugh at him, but I lost it in the prison scene. “Ping ping pi-” shut up! His damaged character didn’t feel real to me at all and his stupid looking hair didn’t help. This is coming from a guy who was liking what I saw from him in the trailer! The only part I liked him in was with Senator Finch maybe because the actress who played the senator nailed it on the head especially with that court scene.

Now the thing that really took me out of the film was its editing. You would have some scenes in the film that would come out of nowhere. Some scenes just started in a very rapid and sudden way. There would also be these unnecessary scenes and subplots going on like the one in Africa. I understand you had to set-up the leader of the terrorist group, but why did you have to include Superman being part of it when he was going to cause more destruction. You would think he would’ve learned from the battle of Metropolis. This was a real problem for me that I wanted to forgive, but it kept coming back up. Many say that they don’t blame Zack Snyder but rather the script, but the script isn’t at center fault here. Did the script have some problems? Definitely, but the scene orders and selection, and weird editing was really awkward for me.

Now the problem with the script by Chris Terrie and David S. Goyer. Can we talk about that flying Bruce Wayne opening credits sequence? It was definitely the biggest WTF moment of the film and left a huge taste in my mouth through the entire film. I am surprised no one was mentioning it. Glad to hear someone later told me it was supposed to be a dream. One more thing. “Martha!” I really did not like that. I was really mad that that was the way they decided to resolve the fight between Batman and Superman. Apparently Batman forgave Superman and considered him a “friend” just because Superman happened to scream a name of his mother.

In conclusion, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a film that has a lot of great content blended with unsettling script, and unprofessional directing choices. Great soundtrack/swordplay by Hens Zimmer and Junkie XL helps out a lot. The visual effects were beautiful which I do have to credit Snyder for. I hope that for the Justice League movie he takes the directing approach of Man of Steel rather than Batman v Superman because MoS is one of my favorite superhero films. I did enjoy myself many times, but I wished I enjoyed myself more.

6.5/10 – Okay

So this is my review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and I hoped you enjoyed my opinion. To be honest I think many critics just nitpick the film and use those nitpicks as the main setbacks of the film. What about you? Did you like the movie?Stick to ComicBooger.wordpress.com for more Batman, Superman, & Wonder Woman content. Wonder Woman vs. Angela will be the next Marvel vs. DC battle coming on Saturday so make sure to read that. Thank you for reading and tell you how was the movie for you.